Chapter 1
WIDB began not in 1970, but in the ’60s. At the time, being dissatisfied with existing radio choices and starting one’s own station was radical. Having an entirely student-administered, student-operated and student-staffed station was downright heretical in the ’60s as it was terribly threatening to then-existing power structures. Just having these ideas and seriously attempting to make them reality is quite amazing. Actually SUCCEEDING in the face of a horribly byzantine bureaucratic culture was nothing short of monumental.
This history is dedicated to Jerry Chabrian, a man who had a vision, saw the potential to activate multiple generations of students, and didn’t rest until he, along with others, made it happen. This history is also dedicated to all other “charter” and “pre-charter” members, without whose sacrifices and dedication WIDB would never have made it to sign-on. Lastly, this history is also dedicated to the special members over the years who have been obsessively fierce in their efforts to maintain and expand WIDB as a truly student-administered, student-staffed and student-operated service to the SIU/C’dale students and community.
The prospect of a radio station/organization such as WIDB represented a threat of change to almost all elements of the SIU landscape. Starting WIDB required either approval or cooperation from many interest groups in the university mosaic. This demanded very large amounts of skill, vision, energy, time, persistence, and consistency. A tremendous effort was required to make such a change in the culture. The general conditions, as will be described, are important, since these are what gave Jerry his opening.
If not for the draft, the riots, the major swelling of the adolescent population (and its resulting identity, power, and assertiveness), the breathtaking expansion of the university, the bumbling indifference to student needs by some faculty and administrators (and the sincere caring for students by others), the station might never have been born. As it was, opposing forces almost prevented WIDB from advertising, and has prevented WIDB from going open air in any (legal) form.
Some readers may have predisposed attitudes about certain historical events such as the Vietnam war, the draft and those who wished to avoid it, protests, agitation, violent protests, looting, police and soldiers tear gassing, beating, bayoneting and shooting unarmed protesters and curfew violators, etc. We do not now write this merely to disturb these attitudes. It can be painful to have formed an attitude only to be confronted with contrary evidence. Reports in this history of SIU events are based on documentary evidence and eyewitness accounts.
That said, if you too have eyewitness accounts and/or relevant documents of your own, please pass them along to us.
Otherwise this history will never be complete, and as well you’ll have to deal with your own predispositions.
This is a living, not dead, history. There is always new information to include. Please help us. Feel free to correct, amend, embellish. Tell us your stories about when you were in C’dale. Tell us how your experience in C’dale has impacted your life. Tell us about the unique characters you met and/or hung out with in C’dale. And, tell us about you and WIDB.
The entire nation and world endured dramatic change in the ’60s. SIU and C’dale experienced this as young adults and adolescents asserted themselves to demand more responsibility, power, and allocation of resources. The effort to create WIDB was part of this. WIDB was not about burning down buildings or exterminating the establishment. WIDB was about being independent, taking care of ourselves, finding our own identity, serving our brothers and sisters, and forming a positive and hopeful vision for the future. But WIDB, and those who made it happen, were not on an island. They were in the middle of a stormy environment fraught with continual change.
Just as adolescence is a time of great change for all of us, the 1960s was a time of great change for the United States. For the first time, the security and the credibility of even the President could not be taken for granted. Repeatedly, even routinely, the traditional ways of doing things were questioned and attacked.
By 1966, the proportion of the population under the age of 19 soared to the highest in US history. During the 50′s and 60′s, elementary and even high school students were subjected to repeated propaganda about the Bill of Rights, equal protection under the law, the Declaration of Independence, and the role of our courts in enforcing the laws. Some of us remember the televised images of the students who just wanted to attend a Little Rock high school only to find their way blocked by the Governor of Arkansas in the schoolhouse door, and the federal troops called in to clear the path. Or the picture of the civil rights marchers crossing the bridge in Selma, Alabama as the police and dogs attacked. And later, the films of battle in the faraway jungles of southeast Asia where the soldiers looked more and more like our classmates and friends every day.
From 1965-72, at least 50,000 men were drafted into the armed forces each year. Almost all of the draftees were sent to Vietnam. There, many soldiers in ground troops (“grunts”) suffered physical trauma, unspeakable emotional horrors, exposure to major drugs such as heroin (attractive in response to death and suffering), and generally used up their remaining adolescence and most of their adulthood. Sometimes, it was scary to see a veteran of Vietnam. Some found it hard to fit into anything. The government did little for them. The war was unpopular. After paying a large price, more than a few felt largely abandoned. For many, getting drafted and serving in Vietnam ruined their lives.
Suddenly, starting about 1965, there were some really good reasons for going to college. But many very draftable males could not afford college, and they came from families where no one had ever gone to college. Or, they were not “model students” in high school, and may have barely graduated. In short, they could never get into, let alone pay for, most colleges. That’s where Clyde Choate, Paul Powell, and Delyte W. Morris came in. Many of us know that Southern Illinois may still be Illinois, but it has more connection to “The South” than it does to Chicago. Through the 1960s, the South was known as “the Solid South” because politically, it was so fully and completely Democratic. This meant that from these areas, if one was elected to office as a Democrat, reelection (over and over) was a virtual certainty. In the state legislature, seniority (and being in the majority party) is power.
In the late ’50s and through the mid ’60s, Democrats were rising in power in Springfield. Clyde Choate, from Anna, had served in state House for years and became the majority leader. Almost no state money could be appropriated without his approval. Paul Powell (pronounced “Pawl Pal”) was essentially Secretary of State for life (he died in office in 1970, when investigators found his hundreds of shoeboxes packed with hundred dollar bills). Powell, from Vienna, had served in government for many years and had accumulated innumerable political favors. He also commanded a very large patronage army.
Illinois has always seen the push and pull between Chicago and “downstate” interests. Chicago seems to get the lion’s share by some accounts. Choate and Powell wanted to change that.
Meanwhile, things had been pretty sleepy in Southern Illinois since the tornado leveled Murphysboro in 1927. Other than the horrible coal miners’ strikes in the ’30s and the opening of the Crab Orchard Wildlife Refuge and lake in the ’40s, not much was going on.
In Carbondale, there was this little “Southern Illinois Normal College.” The “Normal” meant it was for teachers. The main purpose was to produce teachers for the area elementary and high schools. There were also agricultural and mining degrees offered. The school had existed since 1867, when its first permanent building, “Old Main,” was erected. Southern Illinois Normal College had never had more than 1-3 thousand students at any one time.
In 1948, Delyte W. Morris became “Dean” of the college. Later his title was changed to “Superintendent,” still later, “President.” By 1970, when he resigned under pressure, he had built an enormous empire that dwarfed anything southern Illinois had ever seen.
He had overseen the transformation of the little teachers’ college into Southern Illinois University, the largest employer in Southern Illinois. The student population had ballooned to almost TWENTY THOUSAND in 1968! Millions upon millions of state dollars poured into Carbondale as building after building (Thompson Point, Phase I, Morris Library, Ag, Pulliam, Woody Hall, University Center, Home Ec, Arena, Lawson, Life Science I, Comm, Triads, Neely, Thompson Point Phase II, Mae Smith & Schneider), shot towards the sky. Almost all of these were built after 1958, when Choate and Powell were at the peak of their power in Springfield.
Choate, Powell, and Morris had worked together to bring more money and power to Southern Illinois. They succeeded, but they got more than they bargained for.
In 1964, there were less than 4,000 students at SIU. The next year, there were almost 12,000. How and why were so many “students” drawn to Carbondale?
First, almost anybody who graduated high school could get in. You didn’t even have to take the ACT. Second, it was cheeeeep. Sixty bucks per quarter tuition, full time. That was equivalent to about twenty record albums at that time. No books to buy, because there was Textbook Rental (a service of the university), where you could rent all of your books for about 2-4 bucks per quarter. Third, it could be eeeeeeasy. There were hard courses if you looked for them, listened to any advisor, or you were unlucky, but most courses were “relaxed.” Fourth (and, for some, first) there was a fancy, expanding campus near state parks and a national forest.
Finally, 1965 was the first year of massive troop deployments in Vietnam, and the first year of major drafting to support this.
So if you were 18 in 1965, your choice was to either:
a. Come up with about $200, plus living expenses, go to “college” in C’dale,
have easy classes with plenty of time for partying; or
b. Get drafted and go to Vietnam.
Which one would you pick?
Neely Hall, with capacity for almost 1000 women, was ready for occupancy in Fall, 1965. The Triads (Allen, Boomer, & Wright), with capacity for almost 1,000 men, was also ready for occupancy in Fall, 1965. Mae Smith and Schneider (also 1,000 each) were ready one year later. Thus, about 4,000 new students moved in over a one-year period in this area alone.
Construction was also proceeding at Thompson Point, Southern Hills, and Evergreen Terrace. Eventually, all of these dorms would be able to hold over 7,000 students.
In the mid-’60s, the City of Carbondale had a population of about 12,000. Dial phones had just been introduced. There were certain establishments that had not been integrated. McDonald’s had just arrived, and was the only national chain represented. When the towers were under construction, locals would come to watch. Most had never seen a building of more than three or four stories. Carbondale was firmly entrenched as a backwater of Illinois, where not much had changed for decades. Suddenly, it was invaded by 12,000 rambunctious adolescents, most of them from Chicago! Carbondale would be forever changed.
